Shopping Festival tomorrow, and the FIFA world cup

Tomorrow, the 4th of April sees a shopping festival held down at the Al Bahja Hall in Qurum, it's called A day the women way and runs from noon until 9pm.

The stall holders are from Oman, America, Europe, Indo-Pak, Philippines and many other nationalities with a wide range of consumer requirements varying from beauty care, clothing, jewellery, healthcare, restaurants, consumer products(!!) and many more.

In addition to the Fun & Entertainment zone, there will be a live music & dance performance, multi cuisine food stalls and free kids play area.

Also, all day tomorrow at the Bank Muscat HQ in Seeb, they are displaying the FIFA World Cup trophy for those that would like a chance to get up close and personal to one of the most, if not the most, widely competed for trophy in the sporting world. I understand the trophy is being displayed all day and is being unveiled by His Highness Sayyid Fatik bin Fahr Al Said, the secretary-general at the ministry of heritage and culture.

Have a great weekend everyone.

le fin.

Extreme Sailing Series comes to Muscat this weekend

Starting Wednesday, Muscat will kick off the first stage of the Extreme Sailing Series for the 3rd year in a row. It runs between the 6th and the 8th and will be based at The Wave by Oman Sails HQ.
8 teams with 40 of the world ́s best sailors from 10 countries will line up on the starting grid on Tuesday 5 March for four days of intense competition. The fleet will start racing at 2pm every day and from Wednesday, 6 March the event opens to the public (Free Entry).

The map above shows the Race Village, which will include Red Bull Free Runners, motored para-gliders, live commentary in Arabic and English, a football tournament supported by the Oman Football Association with 100 teams competing for a cash prize donated by Oman Sail going to the winning team and a charity of the team´s choice, resident DJ, food and beverage stalls, as well as many activities for children. The on-water entertainment will be complemented by a windsurfers exhibition and a Try Sailing programme for everyone.

Heres the schedule for the week:

Weekly schedule:
Tuesday 5 March
11.00-12.00 - Official Press conference at VIP Area
14.00-20.00- Football tournament
14.00-17.00 - Open water racing Extreme 40
Wednesday 6 March
10.15 – Muscat city and coastal races
14.00-20.00- Football tournament
14.00-17.00 - Stadium Racing Extreme 40
17.30 - Public presentation to the top boat of the day
Thursday 7 March
11.00-17.00- Try Sailing
14.00-20.00- Football tournament
13.45-16.45 - Stadium Racing Extreme 40
17.30 - Public presentation to the top boat of the day
18.00 -18.45- Evening Racing Extreme 40
Friday 8 March
11.00-17.00- Try Sailing
14.00-20.00- Football tournament
14.00-17.00 - Stadium racing Extreme 40
17.30 - Act 1 Prize Giving


There's also a fun little video on You Tube below, and a Facebook event page here.

And dont forget to support your local Extreme champions! 

le fin.

The Muscat Reds gets official recognition by Liverpool FC

Tonight at the Habana Sports Bar, the Muscat Reds, a local Liverpool FC supporters club get their official recognition certificate awarded to them by the CEO of Standard Chartered. Nabil "Nabs" Al Busaidi, Oman's Arctic adventurer, who founded the Muscat Reds supporters club, along with similar clubs in Bahrain and Qatar will receive the certificate along with the GM of the Hyatt, Mr Garry Friend.

The presentation will take place shortly before the 9PM kick off between Liverpool & Wigan, with Ali Al Habsi playing for Wigan.

This afternoon I'll announce the Chris Tucker tickets!

le fin.

Tour of Oman starts today

From today until the 16th of February, the 2013 instalment of the Tour of Oman is running around Muscat and surrounding areas. Its grown pretty big and now has 144 cyclists participating in the race from elite teams from all over the world. Most notably for Brits is that Wiggo (Sir Bradley Wiggins) is participating with his Sky Procycling team.

It all kicks off at noon today with Stage 1.

DAY : Monday February 11th
START : 12:00 hrs at Al Musannah
FINISH : between 15:51 and 16:14 hrs at Sultan Qaboos University
KM : 162km

Stage 2

DAY : Tuesday February 12th
START : Fanja in Bidbid at 12:20 hrs
FINISH : between 15:47 and 16:07 hrs at Al Bustan
KM : 146km

Stage 3

DAY : Wednesday February 13th
START : Nakhal Fort at 11:10 hrs
FINISH : between 15:48 and 16:17 hrs at Wadi Dayqah Dam
KM : 190km

Stage 4

DAY : Thursday February 14th
START : Al Saltiyah in Samail at 12:00 hrs
FINISH : between 15:43 and 16:06 hrs half way up Jabal Al Akhdhar
KM : 152.5km

Stage 5

DAY : Friday February 15th
START : at Al Alam Palace at 10:00 hrs
FINISH : between 13:26 and 13:47 at the Ministry of Housing in Boshar
KM : 144km

Stage 6

DAY : Saturday February 16th
START : Hawit Nagam Park at 11:40 hrs
FINISH : between 14:58 and 15:17 on the Matrah Corniche
KM : 144km


The Tour of Oman has become a pretty high profile and seriously taken "pre season" event, as evidenced by the worlds best cyclists coming and racing each other here. I'm not sure if any of it will be televised but I hope so.

So now you know the routes, and the times, so try and avoid those areas unless you want to go and cheer them on!

le fin.

MRFC v Dubai Wasps this Friday at 3pm

This Friday, local rugby team, Muscat RFC, will play the Dubai Wasps in the third of their series of games to retain the Gulf Conference Cup that MRFC won last year.

The game is being held here in Muscat at the ABA rugby ground in Al Khuwair this Friday at 3pm.

Why not come on down and support your local rugby team.... they've been winning a lot lately and all the support they get is more than welcome!

As usual, post match refreshments shall be held in the adopted club house, the Habana Sports bar at the Grand Hyatt.

le fin.

Six Nations rugby starts today!

Avid rugby fans will probably already know that today marks the start of the 2013 Six Nations rugby tournament

The games are all being shown on Al Jazeera Sports, and all of them will be shown live at the adopted MRFC clubhouse, Habana Sports Bar.

WALES V IRELAND Sat 2 Feb 17:30 Millennium Stadium
ENGLAND V SCOTLAND Sat 2 Feb 20:00 Twickenham
ITALY V FRANCE Sun 3 Feb 19:00 Stadio Olimpico
SCOTLAND V ITALY Sat 9 Feb 18:30 Murrayfield
FRANCE V WALES Sat 9 Feb 21:00 Stade de France
IRELAND V ENGLAND Sun 10 Feb 19:00 Aviva Stadium
ITALY V WALES Sat 23 Feb 18:30 Stadio Olimpico
ENGLAND V FRANCE Sat 23 Feb 21:00 Twickenham
SCOTLAND V IRELAND Sun 24 Feb 18:00 Murrayfield
SCOTLAND V WALES Sat 9 Mar 18:30 Murrayfield
IRELAND V FRANCE Sat 9 Mar 21:00 Aviva Stadium
ENGLAND V ITALY Sun 10 Mar 19:00 Twickenham
ITALY V IRELAND Sat 16 Mar 18:30 Stadio Olimpico
WALES V ENGLAND Sat 16 Mar 21:00 Millennium Stadium
FRANCE V SCOTLAND Sat 16 Mar 24:00 Stade de France

My moneys on England!

le fin.

MRFC v Abu Dhabi Saracens this Friday

This Friday, local rugby team, Muscat RFC, will play the Abu Dhabi Saracens in the second of their series of games to retain the Gulf Conference Cup that MRFC won last year.

The game is being held here in Muscat at the ABA rugby ground in Al Khuwair this Friday at 3pm.

Why not come on down and support your local rugby team.... they've been winning a lot lately and all the support they get is more than welcome!

As usual, post match refreshments shall be held in the adopted club house, the Habana Sports bar at the Grand Hyatt.

le fin.

The secret Audi test track

Did you know that Audi has a secret test facility here in Oman? It's been here for years and years and is all very hush hush. It's probably the reason why you quite regularly see unreleased Audi's and sometimes VW model's here in Oman from time to time, because they are presumably conducting tests at their regional facility here in the Sultanate.

It's down past Adam, and you can look at it here on wikimapia. Its a large oval, but when you zoom in, you can see that they've made a track within the Oval as well. It certainly looks like a lot of fun.

The facility is secured and has it's own 24/7 security patrol, so don't think about heading down there to try your luck on their test track, you'll be met with chained fences and guards who won't let you in! Rumours around town are that some few lucky people get to go down every now and then, but not for most of us.

I know I'd sure like to have a go on the track with my car, or, you know, an R8........ each side of the Oval is like 5km long! :)

le fin.

Quick nod to the Liverpool supporters club in Muscat

Congrats to Adam and his band of supporters over on the facebook group Muscat Reds which has just crossed the milestone 1000 likes.

The Muscat reds meet for most Liverpool games in the Liverpool annex at the hugely popular Habana sports bar over at the Grand Hyatt, they get to watch the games in HD on huge flat screens, but more importantly for them, and those who are not Liverpool fans, they can be clearly identified as Liverpool fans and thus suitably avoided ;)

It's always nice to enjoy something in the company of others who enjoy the same thing as you, so if you are into Liverpool and living in Muscat... check out the Muscat Reds facebook page, or wonder down to Habana and watch a match with other like minded fanatics fans.

le fin.

Bowling in Muscat

Last month I was emailing back and forth with some visiting Canadian Navy people who were interested in bowling in Oman. I actually found it quite hard to find decent information all in one place for fans of bowling here, so I thought I'd put together a little post about it.

As far as I know, in the capital, there are 3 separate bolwing alleys:

Al Masa Bowling Alley. Open Hours: 9:30am-1:00am (Tel: +968 2469 3991) Located in Shattie Al Qurum

 

Oman Bowling Centre. Open Hours:Not sure but similar to Al Masa(Tel: +968 2448 0747) Located in Al Khuwair

 

Funzone Oman. Open from 9:00am till midnight has bowling alley and also an ice skating rink. (Tel: +968 2466 2951) Located in Qurum

If you know of another bowling alley in town, let me know and I'll add it to this list!

Enjoy the weekend!

le fin.

Beach Bash next weekend

Next weekend, Thursday 13th and Friday 14th sees the tenth year that the local volleyball tournament, the Beach Bash has taken place.

This year it's being held at the Al Sawadi resort up past Barka. The tournament hosts up to 32 teams who battle it out for some prize money, along with a pretty good party on the beach.

To Register a volleyball team for a chance to win RO 600.
-Entry as a Team of 6: RO 50
Receive free tshirt and entry and participation for the cash prize

-Entry as a hotel guest: RO 65 including breakfast
Goes up to RO 75 two days before.
(please call hotel for booking)
-Entry as Camper: RO 12 (they allowed me to allow campers - BOnus)
Goes up to RO 15 two days before.
(please call hotel for booking)

-One day Entry: RO 10 for either day
-Couples free entry between 7.30 and 8.30 on thursday night.
-Party entry tickets are RO 10.

For more info and registration, email beachbash@eventusllc.biz
or visit the facebook page Beach Bash Weekender.

le fin.

Last day of the Dubai 7s today

A quick nod to Dubai's largest sporting event of the year, the Dubai 7s rugby tournament which is the first tournament of the IRB World Sevens competition, and is widely accepted as the 2nd best 7s tournament after the institutional Hong Kong 7s. Everyone got soaked up there yesterday, but reports coming back confirm that the rain didn't deter people from having a good time, I'm guessing the Heineken might of had something to do with that!

This year they've gone a little social... with the #SevensFan twitter hash tag. Yesterday, and again today, HSBC are looking for the ultimate Sevens Fan and are offering the winner the trip of a lifetime: a tournament of their choice featuring in the Sevens World Series 2013/14. (I'd like to win a trip to the HK 7's - it's been 5 years since my last time there)!

All you need to do is post a picture of yourself on twitter with the hash-tag #SevensFan - and you don't even have to be at the event to get included - what happens is the best pictures received are put up on the big screen at the stadium and the crowd cheer for the best one.

Enjoy the weekend if you still have some left, if not... have a good week!

le fin.

Wanasa Oman

You may have already heard about this new voucher book thats on the market here, Wanasa. It's geared mainly to outward bounds activities with vouchers worth up to RO 1200. The book costs RO 12, and if you are coming here for a holiday, or have friends/family coming for a visit or a few visits, I think this book can help save quite a few bucks, but more importantly, can give quite a few ideas of things to do. The current book runs until September 2013.

Here's a list of all the deals in the book:

Water Activities

Al Sansool - Buy 1 fishing trip, get 1 free, x4
Global Scuba - Buy 1 diving trip worth RO 52, get 1 free, x2
Jassa Beach Sea Tourism - 25% discount on total bill per person, x4
Khasab Travel & Tours Company - 25% discount on total bill per person, x4
Kiteboarding Oman - Buy 1 Kiteboarding course, get 1 free, x4
Oman Dive Centre - Buy 1 bubble maker course, get 1 free, x2
Oman Dive Centre - Buy 1 morning snorkelling trip, get next free, x2
Glassbottom boat - 10% discount on total bill per person, x4
Lubna Dhow - 15% discount on total bill per person, x4

Sports

Bike Planet - Buy 2 hours on Quad bike, get an hour free, x4
Muscat Diving & Adventure Centre - 10% off afternoon Dhow trip per person
Muscat Diving & Adventure Centre - 10% off Canyoning - Snake Canyon or Via Ferrata - Snake Canyon - 1 each
Oman Bowling Centre - Buy 3 hours get 1 hour for free, x2
Oman Bowling Centre - Buy 3 meals get 1 free (of same value), x2

Leisure & Pleasure

Bait Muzna - 10% discount on selected items
City Cinema - Buy 2 tickets & get 1 free (only in Sur or Sohar), x4
Happyland MGM - Get RO 2 free credit when you buy a Happy card and load it with RO 5
Happyland MGM - Get RO 6 free credit when you buy a Happy card and load it with RO 10
Happyland MGM - Get RO 12 free credit when you buy a Happy card and load it with RO 20
Happyland MGM - Get RO 35 free credit when you buy a Happy card and load it with RO 50
Marah Land - Free entry for 4 people
Marah Land - Charge your card with RO 5 and get RO 2,5 free, x3
National Ferries Company - Buy 2 adult tickets and get a free childs ticket, x2
National Ferries Company - Buy 3 adult tickets and get a 20% discount, x2
Oman Salsa Group - 25% discount on any event during 3rd March & 31st December 2013
Oman Salsa Group - 25% discount on one class
Oman Salsa Group - 50% discount after 5 referrals
Oman Salsa Group - RO5 discount on a package card purchased (per person)
Pro Shots - Buy 2 art frames and get 2 for free, x2
Pro Shots - 25% discount on fun session albums, x2
Pro Shots - 25% discount on storyteller set frames, x2
Pro Shots - Buy one large canvas and get one free, x2


If you are interested in buying it, you can call 2469 2469 or visit the ProShots store in Shatti Al Qurum.

le fin.

Muscat Regatta this weekend

This weekend sees the Muscat Regatta kick off again between the 22nd until the 28th November, including 2 days of inshore racing at Marina Bandar Al Rowdha on 22nd and 23rd, with prize giving in the evening of the 23rd.

Then, the Bank of Beirut Chairman’s cup Race will start on the 24th of November and  the final prize giving taking place in Khasab on the 28th November

More information on Muscat Regatta 2012 can be found on the official website – www.muscatregatta.com along with registration forms, notice of regatta and notice of race.

le fin.

The Beach Handball 2012 World Championships

Today, from 6pm, until this Friday (13th!!) up at the Millennium Resort in Mussanah, the Men's and Women's beach handball championships are taking place.

Oman has a mens team playing, but no women's team this year, their first game is tonight at 18:50 against the mighty Brazilians. There are 20 countries taking part in this event in total, with two groups of 6 in both the Men's and Women's championships.

Might be a nice activity for the weekend coming up, or any evening this week. Entry is free and there is a pretty good website about the event here.

le fin.

Long weekend ahead...

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last few days, you should know that everyone has Saturday off, and anyone working in the Government will have Sunday off too. Bars will be closed from 6pm on Saturday and will not be opening again until midnight on Sunday.

Someone very kindly made a sports schedule for the weekend should you be interested in watching either the many football or rugby games this weekend, see below, and as always, click to make it bigger!

Oman managed to draw 1-1 with Iraq yesterday in their latest World Cup 2014 qualifier game and are now tied 2nd with Australia and Iraq behind the run-away winners of the group, Japan. However, if the standings don't change, Iraq will be 2nd because they have scored more goals.

Team	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Japan	3	2	1	0	10	1	7
Iraq	2	0	2	0	2	2	2
Australia	2	0	2	0	1	1	2
Oman	3	0	2	1	1	4	2
Jordan	2	0	1	1	1	7	1

Enjoy the weekend.

le fin.

Oman draw with Australia 0-0

The nipple-gripple tackle was a team favourite

Yesterday afternoon at 5pm, the Australian Socceroos played Oman in what was expected to be an easy-win for Australia, in Oman's 2nd 2014 World Cup qualifying match. Yet Oman managed to hold off get the draw and a precious 1 point, which I'd say is quite a result - the top 2 in the group go through to the World Cup, the 3rd position in the group gets another shot, by playing a play-off game with a South American team later on to determine if they get into the World Cup or not. The group that Oman is in has these countries (I got it from Wikipedia):

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Japan	2	2	0	0	9	0	+9	6
Iraq	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	1
Australia	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
Oman	2	0	1	1	0	3	−3	1
Jordan	2	0	1	1	1	7	−6	1

Oman's next game is against Iraq on Tuesday, who drew 1-1 with Jordan in their first game. Jordan lost 6-0 against Japan yesterday, whereas Oman lost 3-0 against Japan, so with that spin on things, Oman might fancy their chances against both Iraq and Jordan.

Whilst we're talking about football, today is the second day of the Euro's, with The Netherlands playing Denmark at 8pm and Germany against Portugal at 10:45pm. Yesterday's opening matches were a draw 1-1 between Poland & Greece, and a victory for Russa 4-1 against the Czech Republic.

Also today there is some rugby on:

New Zealand v Ireland, 11:35

Australia v Wales, 14:05

South Africa v England, 19:00

Argentina v Italy, 22:40

I wonder how badly the Saffers will beat England by tonight?!

The climbing wall in Al Khuwair

Recently I joined a small group of twitter friends for a 2 hour taster session at "The Wall" climbing centre in al Khuwair. The centre is effectively 2 main rooms, one a bouldering room, and the other various climbing wall routes with varying (and increasing) difficulties and there's also an abseiling tower too. The wall is run by the Muscat Diving and Adventure centre and represents only a part of the services they offer.

We started out in the bouldering room, learning how to fall first, this quickly became something I was good at, falling, so it was good training for me. The room has foot and hand holds bolted into it all over the room's walls and ceiling, with crash-mats lining the floor wall to wall. 

After a few exercises and games ("plus one") in the bouldering room, we moved on to the actual climbing wall proper, and put on our climbing harness' or whatever they were called and got stuck into the actual climbing wall routes.

I have to say, it was surprisingly hard for me - the centre has many pairs of climbing shoes available, but seemingly only 1 or 2 size 11, 12, 13 pairs of climbing shoes, all of which were taken by the time I showed up, leaving me to use just my trainers. I never realized just how much effect having the right footwear for this would have - so bear that in mind and be sure to wear strong shoes if you have big feet like me :)

The Climbing Wall has a facebook page here and the centre is a very popular spot with budding climbers of all ages and abilities in the week. There is "Open Climbing" on Tuesday & Sunday evenings, 6-8pm, at a rather attractive cost of 2 RO per session. It's a pretty good work out, and if you are not used to it, various muscles in your body will probably start aching a couple of days later!

More soon!

le fin.

Muscat Arabian Foxes hockey club

I recently learned of a new hockey (field hockey) team based here in Muscat called the Arabian Foxes (or just Foxes as they seem to go by). They were only founded in October 2011 and offer hockey to expats, (and locals) who due to league rules are excluded from Omani League hockey. They also give free training for under 18s down at BSM.


Their team comprises of both male and female hockey players of all ages, abilities and nationalities, from ex-national league, to youngsters and beginners learning the game. They play a good social standard of hockey all year round, against local Omani clubs, expat clubs, teams from visiting ships, and in tournaments in the Middle East.

They play every Tuesday from 7pm-9pm on the floodlit Astroturf pitch at the British School Muscat.

Speaking of tournaments, the Foxes are headed to Dubai this coming weekend for their first tournament at the Dubai Hockey Club 6's - so good luck guys and girls, I hope you do well.

More soon.

le fin.

The Hunger Games, and rugby.

Finally, today, at 9:30 and 11:00 the Shatti City Cinema will be screening The Hunger Games. I just read all three of the books in the last week and I gotta say, if the first movie is even half as good as the first book.. it'll be awesome :)

Also, tomorrow from 9am and until 3pm at the ABA rugby pitch in Al Khuwair is the mini rugby tournament. Followed by the MRFC men's playing a team from the French Navy.

Have a nice weekend.

le fin.